Steam transfer

[Beeman]

Yes and your ISP can terminate your subscription just because they don't like you. It doesn't happen, however.

[Deadweasel]

If you join Steam you become part of a larger community which relies on its members to behave themselves in a civil manner. Basically, consider what could get you banned here, then apply that to Steam, and add cheating in online multiplayer games to the list of douche maneuvers that could get you snipped.

Other than that, don't get all worked up over the legalese. Most of the most worrisome bits are designed more to protect them (Steam) than to provide justifications to term your account. Look at it from Steam's perspective: why would they be so quick to terminate/suspend an account, when those accounts are what are buying games from them in the first place?

[Kimberly]

If you join Steam you become part of a larger community which relies on its members to behave themselves in a civil manner. Basically, consider what could get you banned here, then apply that to Steam, and add cheating in online multiplayer games to the list of douche maneuvers that could get you snipped.

Other than that, don't get all worked up over the legalese. Most of the most worrisome bits are designed more to protect them (Steam) than to provide justifications to term your account. Look at it from Steam's perspective: why would they be so quick to terminate/suspend an account, when those accounts are what are buying games from them in the first place?

Well that's part of the problem. I don't think buying a game should be tantamount to joining a community and signing some kind of social contract. I would like my shopkeepers to be just shopkeepers, so I can do business with them on the terms that you would expect and are fair from a shopkeeper. That is the problem of services like Steam, and also many others, that cram too many different things into one package. (Also, that community whose members are required to behave in a civil manner...what community would that be? Certainly not the Steam community!)

[SuperWeegee4000]

If you join Steam you become part of a larger community which relies on its members to behave themselves in a civil manner. Basically, consider what could get you banned here, then apply that to Steam, and add cheating in online multiplayer games to the list of douche maneuvers that could get you snipped.

Other than that, don't get all worked up over the legalese. Most of the most worrisome bits are designed more to protect them (Steam) than to provide justifications to term your account. Look at it from Steam's perspective: why would they be so quick to terminate/suspend an account, when those accounts are what are buying games from them in the first place?

Whoa, hey, um, that's an interesting word.

[Deadweasel]

Well that's part of the problem. I don't think buying a game should be tantamount to joining a community and signing some kind of social contract. I would like my shopkeepers to be just shopkeepers, so I can do business with them on the terms that you would expect and are fair from a shopkeeper. That is the problem of services like Steam, and also many others, that cram too many different things into one package. (Also, that community whose members are required to behave in a civil manner...what community would that be? Certainly not the Steam community!)

According to the rules, yes they absolutely should. Maybe they don't seem to be adhering to those rules across the board, but name me one community where they do. At least people aren't getting banned for completely frivolous or ridiculous reasons like they do with Sony Online or EA.

Also, I find Steam's conditions a fair enough trade in exchange for simple connections with others to play with, and not having to worry about ridiculous serial keys etc. Maybe you're too young to know what it used to be like with games like F-22 Lightning III or Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, or Homeworld, where we had to go through crappy unreliable third-party services to connect with other players; services that are now completely shut down, necessitating dirty hacks just to be able to enjoy some of the old games with friends.

I don't need to cheat or intentionally troll strangers on forums to get some enjoyment out of my day, so I'm satisfied that I won't be having any problems whatsoever with Steam and the limited interactions I use it for (purcashing games, primarily). To be frank, I really do think that the people who are railing the hardest against Steam fall primarily into two camps: those who can't get over the concept of intangible goods costing real money, and those who get more enjoyment out of abusing the system and others to get their kicks.

To address those people who are arguing against it in favor of having a physical disc: do you really still have the installers and license keys for those games you bought ten+ years ago? Do they still actually install and run well without a ton of research, CD cracks or registry edits? If the answer to any one of those is 'no', then you have a good reason for something like Steam to exist. At least I know anything I buy from there will work on my system, even if it's a legacy title.

[Deadweasel]

Whoa, hey, um, that's an interesting word.

Eh? Which word?

[SuperWeegee4000]

Eh? Which word?

That long one. In the text I quoted?

[Deadweasel]

That long one. In the text I quoted?

"Legalese"?

[SuperWeegee4000]

"Legalese"?

Nevermind then.

[technicalfool]

To address those people who are arguing against it in favor of having a physical disc: do you really still have the installers and license keys for those games you bought ten+ years ago? Do they still actually install and run well without a ton of research, CD cracks or registry edits? If the answer to any one of those is 'no', then you have a good reason for something like Steam to exist. At least I know anything I buy from there will work on my system, even if it's a legacy title.

Well I said I was going, but after this post I have to say: Yes, they all do. The ones without crappy copy protection measures in work the best, but for the ones that have SecuROM and what-have-you, Gameshark takes care of that and lets me store the disk somewhere safe.

What's going to happen when Steam goes down and the next Big Thing happens? Couldn't happen? At one point, MySpace was more popular than Facebook.

Incidentally, I wasn't aware that KSP was a physical-CD product. Wonder how much money Squad has made so far from a DRM-less title?

And now I'd really rather get back to having fun with my legitimately purchased titles.